Beating the heat in hot yoga class

We don’t do hot yoga because it’s comfortable We do it to try to find comfort in any situation written by Mary Grace

Hot yoga is exactly what it says it is.
It’s HOT!
Of course, it is uncomfortable to sweat buckets of water in a hot yoga class. It’s not like there is some superhuman subspecies on this planet that’s just not affected by the heat in hot yoga. We are all affected. The training in a Hot Yoga class is how you manage this uncomfortable state that the deeper levels of healing are to be discovered. The Hot Yoga magic lays in that the practitioner of Hot Yoga, through conditioning, proper breathing & proper mind set learns to manage the symptoms more effectively.
Students have agreed that once you can get past the heat, you get more personal will power. Through the practice of not being so easily distracted & affected by the outside forces, you train yourself to create your own inner environment.
In a Hot Yoga class, You choose how you want to feel
Through this process, you become very powerful.
Learning to put things aside, especially very uncomfortable things aside,
And just doing the work that has to be done can be a very effective tool for true physical & emotional pain management.
I like to think of yoga postures in this way.
They are a task that has to be done.
I can learn a lot about my task taking skills during a posture.
Am I frustrated
Am I angry that I can’t do it
Am I aggravated by others falling out of the pose
Am I distracted
Do I quit
Am I holding my breath
Do I try too hard & then quit too soon?
Do I go all the way with smooth and easy energy through a balanced, calm & sustainable breath?
Yoga practice can reveal a lot of your habits on to you.

Ways to beat the heat in hot yoga class
1. Pace yourself. Dont try to do everything. Your ego is not your amigo. I know it sucks when you are good at everything and then yoga breaks you down. Yoga is not like other activities. You have to learn how to pace yourself and work on the inner journey. By pacing yourself I mean pause between the poses, take deep breaths and regulate your heart beat. Dont go 10000% and then stop. Try 80% physical effort & 100 % breathing effort.
2. Keep your cool. Take deep breaths. Exhales can assist in cooling you down. In between the poses take breaks to get a hold of your breath. Don’t use this in between time to panic about how hot you are. You are hot, its supposed to be that way. MOVE BEYOND IT.
3. Don’t eat before class. Eating too close to the class time (could even be three hours, depending on what you eat) can make you feel sick, overheat and just have a very uncomfortable experience. Drink a smoothie, a juice or a piece of fruit to prepare for hot yoga.
4. Do not drink coffee right before class. Coffee has a heating element to your body and can make you too stimulated to be able to relax in between the poses. Drink a green juice or a protein shake
5. Bring an ice water. Ice water is not the best to drink, so bring two bottles of water. One iced and one not too cold to drink. The ice water is to be used to cool your skin down by putting cold water on your face & neck if you get too hot.

At Yoga Oasis we strongly believe that yoga classes are more about gaining life skills than simply about becoming more flexible.
We invite you to try one of our life transformational yoga classes at the Oasis soon